Getting laid off is enough of a burden on your life without having to add the fact that your employer is fighting your Unemployment. Talk about adding insult to injury.
In the State of Nevada, generally speaking, if you are fired for “misconduct” or you quit on your own, you are not entitled to unemployment benefits. However, in most cases, if you have been fired by your employer and they are fighting your unemployment, it is because they are alleging that you were fired for misconduct, when this may not be the truth.
The unemployment process generally follows these steps:
(1) File for unemployment
(2) Your employer has an opportunity to fight your unemployment
(3) If you unemployment is denied you can request an Unemployment Appeals Hearing
(4) If you lose at the Hearing, you can Appeal again to the Board of Review
(5) If the Board denies your Appeal you can do a Judicial Review
*SPECIAL NOTE* For each and every step in this process the Unemployment office of Nevada will send you a letter with specific instructions and dates of when to appeal. If you miss this date, you lose your chance to appeal.
How can you appeal a denial?
Unemployment Appeal Hearing:
This Hearing is held in the offices of the Unemployment Appeals office and overseen by a Hearings Officer. At this time you can present your case (witnesses, documents, etc.) to explain why what you did was not misconduct (maybe just an honest mistake) or if you quit, why you had no choice but to quit because the company was pushing you out the door anyways (this is called Constructive Termination).
Board of Review:
There is no Hearing at this level, just a review of the transcript and evidence from your Appeal Hearing, and only based on that does the Board make a decision.
Petition for Judicial Review:
This is an appeal to a District Court Judge in Nevada asking the Judge to overturn the ruling from both the Hearing Officer and the Board. This level is very involved and needs extensive legal writing and research. Though you may attempt to do this on your own, it is strongly urged that you seek legal representation.